Falsepine
- December 1, 2022
- Voyager Softworks
Get on Steam"Falsepine is a challenging roguelike game set in the untamed West, where you hunt 5 legendary creatures. Explore diverse landscapes, gather clues, and prepare in Falsepine town before each battle. Your skill and strategy will determine your success in this action-packed, brutal adventure."
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features engaging gameplay with a fun and challenging roguelike experience, reminiscent of titles like Diablo and Soulsborne games.
- The visuals and sound design are impressive, with beautiful environments and varied enemy designs that enhance the overall atmosphere.
- Despite its flaws, the game offers a rewarding experience for players who enjoy grinding and mastering enemy patterns, making each run feel meaningful.
- The game is plagued by bugs and unpolished mechanics, leading to frustrating experiences such as losing progress and items upon returning to town.
- The gameplay loop can feel repetitive and punishing, with a lack of meaningful progression between runs and a reliance on grinding to improve character stats.
- Many players find the tutorial prompts intrusive and the quest mechanics confusing, making it difficult to navigate the game effectively.
- gameplay15 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay is described as short yet enjoyable, featuring smooth twin-stick controls and engaging combat, though it suffers from a repetitive loop of dying and grinding for perks. While the core mechanics and visuals are appealing, many players note that the gameplay feels incomplete, with issues in UI and strategic depth, particularly in the town mechanics. Overall, despite its flaws, the game offers a fun and fast-paced experience that encourages players to keep trying.
“The gameplay is short, but incredibly fun.”
“The twin sticks gameplay works smoothly.”
“A really cool rogue-like in the ever-present weird west genre, Falsepine is a little rough around the edges in terms of polish or outright visual design, but its really fun and engaging gameplay and minute-to-minute fast-paced combat makes up for any shortcomings and continually left me with a 'one more run!' feeling after dying.”
“But the gameplay loop and penalties when you die kind of ruin the fun.”
“So the gameplay loop involves getting killed then grinding and grinding the same areas again and again in order to recover those bonus perks, and get the money in order to re-equip.”
“The core concept is appealing, and the moment-to-moment gunplay feels okay, but everything from UI to the primary gameplay loop feels half-baked in the game's current state.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics are praised for their beauty and engaging atmosphere, particularly in the environments. However, the lack of graphical options and performance issues, especially in foggy areas, have been noted as significant drawbacks that may need future optimization.
“The atmosphere is engaging and the visuals are great.”
“The visuals are beautiful, especially the environments.”
“The graphics and theme are cool.”
“There are no graphics options, and my framerate tanked in certain spots, usually when fog was around.”
“My CPU/GPU weren't working too hard at the time, so this is probably just something that will be optimized in the future, but having no options to change graphics settings to mitigate this was a bit of a slap in the face.”
“And the visuals???”
- story9 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game has potential, with an appealing world and lore, but is marred by frustrating gameplay mechanics, such as annoying tutorial prompts and poorly designed quest structures that disrupt immersion. Players express dissatisfaction with the randomness of quest difficulty, limited resupply options, and unclear mission instructions, which detract from the overall narrative experience. Additionally, spelling and grammar errors in mission texts and lore entries further diminish the storytelling quality.
“The world and story appealed to me, but everything from the tutorial text to the lore entries in the journal was riddled with spelling and grammar errors.”
“You start in a region with three missions plus one boss, which sets a solid foundation for the gameplay experience.”
“If you die, missions can vary, adding an interesting dynamic to the storytelling and gameplay.”
“The world/story appealed to me, but everything from the tutorial text to the lore entries in the journal was spotted with spelling and grammar errors.”
“Those quests should be done during the playthrough, be part of it, not the purpose of every run because now you finish most of them in 2 minutes and have to go back to town to turn it in, just to start over again.”
“Texts of missions are barely legible.”
- music3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- -100 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised for its atmospheric quality, effectively enhancing the experience of western cryptid hunting. Reviewers appreciate the sound design and the selection of tracks, which contribute significantly to the overall enjoyment of the gameplay.
“Atmosphere, music, and shooting mechanics are all excellent.”
“I don't usually go for roguelikes, but Falsepine pulled me in with its sweet siren song for western cryptid hunting.”
“The sound design is probably one of my favorite parts, especially the selection of music.”
“The music in this game is repetitive and lacks variety, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“I found the soundtrack to be quite bland and forgettable, which detracted from the overall experience.”
“The audio quality of the music is subpar, and it feels like it doesn't match the game's atmosphere.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is mixed; while some players report a lack of bugs during gameplay, others highlight issues with mechanics and overall smoothness. Additionally, the game is described as challenging and punishing, with no ongoing support from the developers.
“This game is buggy, challenging when not exploiting, punishing on death, and no longer supported by the devs.”
“I did not encounter any bugs in close to 2 hours of gameplay, but the mechanics and overall smoothness are concerning.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised, with engaging visuals and effective music that enhance the overall experience. Players appreciate the combination of these elements, contributing to a captivating and immersive environment.
“The atmosphere is engaging, and the visuals are stunning.”
“The atmosphere, music, and action sequences are all excellent.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game repetitive, as it often requires them to repeatedly traverse the same areas after dying to recover lost perks and currency for re-equipping. This cycle can lead to frustration, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the gameplay.
“The gameplay loop involves getting killed, then grinding the same areas repeatedly to recover bonus perks and earn money to re-equip.”
“Grinding feels like a never-ending chore, where progress is painfully slow and the rewards just aren't worth the effort.”
“I spent hours grinding for resources, only to realize that the time invested didn't translate into meaningful upgrades or enjoyment.”
